Sean Sanders81 said:The main reason we lost was exhaustion.
Sorry, but this whole "we were too tired" excuse is straight out of a fairy tale. It’s a convenient way to spin a total disaster, but let's be real—it's got zero truth to it.
So, here are the stats from the game.
Look at the Americans—almost every single player saw the floor for at least 10 minutes, except for two guys where one played 7 minutes and the other didn't even step on the court.
Now look at our guys—we had two players who didn't play a single second and two others who barely got 4 minutes.
If the squad was supposedly "exhausted," then why the hell did Štrlek and Zlatko log 56 and 57 minutes respectively, and Duvnjak clock 45? Why didn't the coach pull them in the 40th minute when we were up by 8 to bring in some fresh legs to hustle and protect the lead while the stars caught their breath? What's the point of calling those guys up if you aren't actually going to use them? The Americans rotated perfectly, but we just sat there...
Fatigue? Please. Someone explain to me how being tired matters when you've got 4, maybe even 5 (Mamić) guys sitting on the bench like waiting rifles, and you refuse to sub out the "tired" starters even when we have an 8-point cushion?
Look, maybe fatigue was a factor, and yeah, the schedule is absolute garbage and gave us a massive handicap, but that’s not why we lost this game. We lost because we didn't touch our bench. Period. We lost because the coach is throwing out these empty cliches about being tired while he has fresh talent right there that he refuses to use—for heaven's sake, just give the big guys five damn minutes of rest! But no, just keep playing until they collapse. Yeah, we earned this loss through pure stupidity.
If the coach isn't to blame, then I guess he should go blame the lady luck or the angels or whatever. That’s his style. He deserves every bit of mockery, even from our own mindless media. He brought this on himself—keep your "faith" to yourself instead of dropping these sermon-like statements like you're Moses instead of giving the actual professional analysis you're paid for. Go ahead and vent like everyone else, but bringing up things that have nothing to do with the game... sorry, but you're getting laughed at for a good reason.